TERMINOLOGYThe term mission derives

TERMINOLOGY


The term mission derives from the latin verb mittere which means send. It refers to the act of sending one or more persons to a particular place or envirement for a specific purpose, by another person who has the appropriate authority to do so. Mission may also express a particular task that the authority entrusts to the envoy. In today's linguistic usage, the term is used in many fields and contexts, therefore the nature of the mission is often specified. Unlike terms as apostle or apostolate the word mission is not specifically Christian.
Words do not have fixed precise meanings valid for all times. The Holy Scripture uses different words to express the concept and the reality of mission. Up to the 17th century there were various expressions for the concept of what we call mission today: propagation of faith, conversion of the heathen, proclamation of the Good News in the whole world, instructing the ignorant in the faith, conversion of the unbelievers, apostolic proclamation, offer of salvation to the barbarians, spread of the Christian religion, proclamation of the Gospel, spread of the Church, planting of the Church, apostolate of the Gospel, spread of the Gospel teaching, establishment of the Church, growth of the Gospel teaching, extension of the kingdom of Christ and more.
Ignatius of Loyola asked the Jesuits to take a fourth vow, namely the votum missionis; in the years 1544-1545 he wrote the Constitutiones circa missiones. He understood mission also as the place of destination of the consignment. Also Vincent de Paul used the term mission for obedience or total availability to be sent in foreign lands.
In the early 17th century the evolution of the word stabilizes as
technical term to denote the Christian apostolate in foreign, pagan and far lands.

The addition ad gentes intends to specify that the mission is directed to all the peoples.